NBA approves sale of Warriors to Lacob, Guber

Published 4:00 am, Saturday, November 13, 2010

It took longer for 29 NBA owners to vote "yes" in an e-mail than it took for Joe Lacob and Peter Guber to flesh out the details of a $450 million deal to buy the Golden State Warriors from Chris Cohan, but Friday's end result was the one that was expected seemingly every week for the past 2 1/2 months.

The sale of the Warriors to the group led by Lacob and Guber was approved unanimously by the NBA's Board of Governors, the league announced about an hour after Guber broke the news on his Twitter account and nearly four months after the purchase agreement was signed.

Neither Lacob, a venture capitalist who has been traveling with the team, nor Guber, CEO of Mandalay Entertainment, returned phone or e-mail messages. Both were quoted in a news release from the Warriors and will be introduced by the team Monday in San Francisco.

"Now that the process is officially complete, I am incredibly anxious and excited to take the helm of the Golden State Warriors," Lacob said.

The former minority owner of the Boston Celtics, Lacob already has put his fingerprints on the Warriors by conferring on the signing of undrafted rookie Jeremy Lin and the dismissal of coach Don Nelson.

"With the financial and intellectual commitment of the board members and investors, and Warriors fans as the truly key partners in this endeavor, we will not fail," Guber said.

Lacob and Guber formed GSW Sports LLC, a group of six board members and multiple investors, which they'll head.